Slideshow: BMW Busting Out With All-Electric; Sports Hybrid

The luxury automaker BMW Group is going green in a big way, with plans to roll out purpose-built pure electric and hybrid-electric cars that will make heavy use of carbon fiber materials.

Two new BMWs -- the all-electric i3 and the hybrid-electric i8 -- will hit the streets in 2013 and 2014, respectively, BMW said at a recent sneak preview. They'll make their North American debuts November 16-17 at the Los Angeles Auto Show. They are the culmination of years of research by BMW engineers on concept electrics known as the Mini E and the ActiveE. The new vehicles have been designed from the ground up to use electric powertrains. Doing so assures that the vehicle's available volume is used more efficiently, BMW said.

Click the image of the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid below to view a slideshow of the two upcoming Beemers:

The doors of the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid swing upward like wings to provide a sporty feel. (Photo courtesy of BMW)

"If you can tell your designers that they have freedom from having to house this big engine that needs airflow around it, it opens up your ability to rethink what the automobile is," Tom Plucinsky, a BMW spokesman, said in a Design News interview. "That's why our engineers worked so closely with our designers. They rethought how to design a car that is purely electric."

Both vehicles are part of the BMW i "sub-brand." As a result, both will use a BMW system known as LifeDrive, which is composed of two functional units -- a Drive module and a Life module. The Drive module, made from aluminum, integrates the suspension, battery, drive system, and structural components. Its partner, the Life module, sits atop the Drive module. It is a high-strength passenger cell made from carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP), which is said to offer a huge weight reduction.

The i3 will take advantage of the lightweight body to travel long distances on a single charge. Using a lithium-ion battery of as-yet-unknown capacity, the i3 will have a range of about 90 miles. BMW engineers say they learned from their work on the Mini E and, based on that knowledge, were able to reduce the space requirements for the electric motor by about 40 percent. A 170HP electric motor is mounted in a small space above the rear axle, along with the power electronics, transmission, and differential. The battery, rechargeable in about six hours from a standard power socket, will offer the option of a "range extender," which consists of a small gasoline engine and a generator.

In contrast, the hybrid-electric i8 will use two distinct drive systems. The front axle will employ the i3's 170HP electric motor, while a 220HP three-cylinder internal combustion engine will drive the rear. Using that arrangement, all four wheels of the i8 will be driven at the same time, in a manner similar to an all-wheel-drive vehicle. The all-electric range for the i8 will be about 20 miles, and the battery will be fully rechargeable in about two hours using a standard power socket.

"You want as much range as possible, so you can drive in future inner cities, where you might only be able to drive electrically," Plucinsky said. "And a 20-mile range would probably satisfy that need."

The two vehicles differ significantly from BMW's ActiveE electric car, which will roll out this year. Based on the well-known BMW 1 Series, the ActiveE is essentially a converted gasoline-burning car.

To keep up with our Chevy Volt coverage, go to Drive for Innovation and follow the cross-country journey of EE Life editorial director Brian Fuller. On his trip, sponsored by Avnet Express, Fuller is driving a Volt across America to interview engineers.

Charles; If the plug-in Prius had been available, we would have seriously considered it. The Volt is interesting, but was not available, and also has not been in production as long as the Prius. The Prius and Aspen each have about a 500 mile range on one tank of gas. The problem with most all-electrics I have seen is about 100 mile range, and then several hours to re-charge. The Volt looks like the bridge between an all-electric and the 'true' hybrid. We will definitely look at the plug-in Prius and the Volt when it comes time to replace our current vehicles.

I'm curious, GlennA: As an owner of two hybrids, does the plug-in concept interest you? Would you stand to benefit by driving a vehicle such as the Prius PHV, which gives you 13 miles of all-electric operation? How about the Volt, which gives you about 35 miles of all-electric operation?

@mellofello: Corperations certainly DO have "personality traits", there is no question about that. One of those traits is an overwhelming preoccupation with profits, which is highly motivated by the large bonuses for those who maximize returns to shareholders. So the primary thing is to minimize expenses, which may well include not spending much development money on products that do, or may not, sell well. The pressure to maximize profit is quite strong, and many times doing what looks like it might cut into profits is a career ending mistake. We all know this, even those who deny it. So it is always a risk to launch any new vehicle.

My wife's hybrid is a 2010 Toyota Prius, and she gets up to 55 mpg. My hybrid is a 2009 Chrysler Aspen that I only recently purchased (used). I didn't know there was such a vehicle available. It has a 5.7 Hemi V8, and I average just over 20 mpg. 'Normal' mileage for a Hemi is about 12 to 13. I wanted a truck that could tow a trailer, and the Aspen can do that. I was specifically looking for a hybrid, but didn't want a car with limited cargo or towing capacity. I think there is a perception that 'truck' and 'hybrid' are mutually exclusive. And it seems the Aspen Hybrid was only built for 1/2 a model year, because of that perception.

It is my choice to limit my consumption of fossil fuels and I do consider my impact on the environment as justification of owning and driving hybrids. I do not want to be noticed on the highway or be treated differently because I drive them. A BMW would not be something that I would consider as an alternative to my current hybrids due to the expected high cost to purchase, or recognition that I own a BMW. The Chevy Volt is also not a car that I would consider due to the very high cost to purshase it. From what I can determine, the Chevy Volt would cost more than I paid for my two Toyota Hybrid cars combined.

I will keep my hybrids about 10 years, and I expect my financial offset of gas consumption to yield between 15K to 18K USD per vehicle. This will of course depend on the cost of gas during the lifetime of ownership. So far though, I am on track with my expected savings.

One study published late last year argues that buyers shied away from the Insight because it didn't look enough like a hybrid. The study, "Conspicuous Conservation: The Prius Effect and WTP for Environmental Bona Fides," claims that the Prius grabbed most of the sales because its appearance helps them signal their "green intent." See the study: http://areweb.berkeley.edu/fields/erep/seminar/Prius_Effect_V1.5.1.pdf

Although a corporation is an entity for legal purposes, I am amused by the personal/human charateristics that folks come up with as justification for corporate product decisions. While I can say that I have spent no time in major auto manufacturer board rooms, I do have a perspective from other board rooms. The major subjects are 'making money' or related to making money [or in the case of young companies/startups, 'getting money', making the VCs happy, or making payroll]. Major expenditures, like tooling a new product line [like the Volt], are always met with 'can we modify an existing product?' and one or more projections/risk/reward analysis.

The only part of Political Correctness that manufacturers care about is how it will translate into sales. I guess that it is possible in the Govt Motors case that the Feds 'helped them' with some advice.

I just saw that commercial recently as well and found it so interesting that they played up the BMW (I didn't notice it was the i8) and not the stars of the movie (Tom Cruise was found or mentioned) or the fact that it was a movie trailer. You would have thought they have played up the EV angle more prominently, however.

To TimJones: Wow...you get the heads-up reader award. Here's an item from BMW's press release: "The BMW i8 Conceptn is also the successor to the BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics car featured in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol staring Tom Cruise to be released in December..."

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Co. quietly announced that it was rolling out a new wrinkle to the powerful safety feature called stability control, adding even more lifesaving potential to a technology that has already been very successful.

A well-known automotive consultant who did an extensive teardown of BMW’s i3 all-electric car said its design is groundbreaking in multiple ways. “We’ve torn down about 450 cars, and we’ve never analyzed anything like this before.”

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